Evaluating the Wildcats' Non Conference Schedule

For those of you who have been neck deep in college football up to this point, it might surprise you to hear that the Wildcats of Weber State have already played 10 basketball games (12 if you count the two exhibitions). During that time they have amassed a 4-6 record along with a Thanksgiving weekend tournament championship. A lot has happened in the first six weeks of the season—yes, it’s been that long.

College basketball is a strange beast when it comes to non-conference scheduling, especially for a mid-major like Weber State. To say we’ve had a wide range of competition would be a huge understatement.

On the high end of the spectrum, we had the privilege of getting our butts whooped by some power conference level teams – Oregon State and Nevada (yes, I consider the MWC power level when it comes to bball) and will have one more of these games before the non-conference schedule is through when the Cats head to Eugene to play Oregon. On the other hand, we’ve played a few teams that were… how should I say it?.. less than stiff competition. The Wildcats beat Justice College by 48 and Northwest Indian College by 83. Just ugly, noncompetitive games.

We all know why both extremes of the spectrum are scheduled. On the high end the argument is that we want to “test our guys” and “prepare to play against the best”, not to mention a paycheck. On the lower end, the argument is that we need a “tune up” game and wanted our guys to “gain some confidence”, which I think most fans understand and are willing to accept if it prepares you for the conference season.

Here are the current Ken Pom ranking for each non conference opponent this season:

Weber falls right in the middle of the level of competition that they will face during the non-conference, which seems to be about the right balance. As a comparison, the Big Sky conference currently ranges from #128 (Montana State) to #332 (Sac State), with most falling in the 200s. This is a pretty typical spread for the Big Sky.

Overall, I think the non-con schedule is decent this year. Of course, you'd like to see some better teams come to the Dee, but easier said than done. I know for a fact that Crompton, Duft, and crew have tried to secure some better games at the Dee, but most teams take a hard pass. Teams ranked in the top 150 typically don't want to come to Ogden to play because there is a realistic chance they could get beat, and in a multi bid league, losing to a team ranked in the 200s looks really bad when putting together a resume. For this reason, we play 4 non D1 teams at the Dee. There are three good quality non-con opponents playing at the Dee this season: UC Irving, NDSU, and UVU. The UC Irving game was an especially good one, too bad the Cats couldn't close the deal there.

In my opinion, there are a few things that ought to be the highest priority when putting together the non-conference schedule.

1. Play in State Schools

Let's be honest, college basketball is a distant second behind football in interest, in Utah, and nationally, and it's not particularly close. I had never heard of the 4 non D1 schools on our schedule this year, until I saw them on our schedule, Playing these games does nothing to drive interest in the program or in college bball in Utah in general, if you couldn't tell by the 80% empty arena in these games. In the early season, the games that generate the most interest and most intense game environments are without a doubt games against in state opponents. 

Some of you might remember the "good ol' days" when Weber played Utah, BYU, and USU every year. 

Utah was the first to cut ties after the Cats beat the Utes in 2 of 3 years between 2009-2011. The Utes had been scheduled with Weber home and home for the previous 7 years but cut ties and never looked back, minus one game in that Beehive Tournament they did at the Delta Center a few years back. Utah has routinely played other Big Sky opponents but to this point still will not schedule the Wildcats. The Utes and Wildcats don't have a long history, having only met 12 times, still, I'd like to see us play them regularly. Of course they would never come play in Ogden, they are far too pretentious for that. 

BYU continued with home and home scheduling through 2022 but when they jumped to the Big 12, they stopped scheduling us. Weber has played BYU 55 times (Weber has beat them 12 times), which is nearly every season, until recently. I'd love to see this game happen, even if the Cats have to do a 2 away - 1 home or even always play this game in Provo. The Marriot center has BY FAR the best college basketball environment in the state of Utah and it would be great for The Wildcats to play in that environment against top competition. Why go play at Oregon when we could play at BYU? We've got to make this game happen

Utah State. The big one. I would argue that no other non-conference opponent is as important to get on the schedule as Utah State. If you've ever been to the Dee when we play the Aggies, you know what I mean. This games' got some juice. It means a lot to both fan bases. The Aggies would never want to be caught dead losing to the lowly Wildcats, yet we know that we can beat them once every 3 or 4 years. This game is fun. It's intense. It's good for the sport, and it's good for the state of Utah. This game needs to happen. Period. And not as a charity exhibition.

UVU, SUU, and Utah Tech. There is no reason that the Wildcats should not play each of these schools each year, and for the most part we are playing them each year (minus SUU this season). All three of these schools are very similar to Big Sky level competition and should be no brainers to schedule home and homes with each indefinitely.

So ideally, your in state schedule would look like this:

USU - home and home. Play every season. Highest priority in state game to schedule.

BYU - 2 for 1 (hopeful) or always in Provo (more likely now). Play every year.

Utah - Play them in Salt Lake whenever they grow a pair and will schedule us.

UVU, SUU, Utah Tech - Play each year - home and home.

2.  Don't Schedule So Many Non D1 Opponents

This year we've got 4 non d1 opponents. That's at least two and maybe three too many. The Wildcats should schedule one preseason game against a D2 opponent (Westminster or someone in their conference) and possibly one more D2 opponent at some point later in non-con play as a confidence booster game. The Wildcats have no business scheduling teams from the NCCAA or the AIHEC (both of which I had to google when writing this article). The level of competition is just so much lower than anything else the Cats will see all season, I just don't think it does the team much good. I mean, we beat NW Indian by 83 points.

83 points.

That is just disgusting. I couldn't bare to watch past halftime and I'm about as hardcore a Weber Bball fan as there is. Fans don't want to watch it. Players don't want to play in it. Coaches don't want to pretend like it's something worth their time. All due respect to all levels of college basketball (I couldn't even make my high school's sophomore team), but for our 1 or 2 "scheduled wins", Division 2 is the absolute lowest we should go. Otherwise, schedule the Ben Lomond High JV team and save NW Indian the trip.

3. Fill the Remainder of the Schedule with Big West and Summit League, with maybe one WCC and Mtn West team sprinkled in.

The Big West and Summit League are essentially in the same boat as the Big Sky. Mid Major conferences that are more than likely only going to send the conference tournament champ dancing in March (Big West could send two this year but you get the point). I love what the conference has done with the Big Sky - Summit League Challenge. It has guaranteed at least two quality non-con games. I also was excited to see Weber play two Big West teams in UC Irving and Hawaii. I would think that these games are beneficial for both leagues and I'd like to see more of them. Here is a map I put together of the college basketball teams in the Western US that are no further away then our furthest conference opponent (Portland State). The circle is a radius around Ogden equal to the distance between Ogden and Portland.

Highest level programs in red, slightly lower in black, and mid-major (our level) in blue.

You can see there are plenty of blue teams within a reasonable distance from Ogden. These teams are roughly the level of competition that Weber should be prepared to play against. Surely some of these teams would play Weber year in and year out.

It'd also be nice to see maybe one additional Mtn West level team scheduled each year as a tough test. I'd like to see Nevada or Boise State (given their histories as a Big Sky members) or maybe Wyoming or Colorado State... someone like that, once a year. Other than BYU and Utah, I really have no interest in us going to get our teeth kicked in by a high major program like the ones in red here. Maybe once every few years but not regularly. For every one win like last year at St Mary's there are about 30 losses against that caliber of team.

An Idealized Non Conference Schedule:

If I could wave a magic wand and schedule the Wildcats non-con schedule I'd make it something like this:

I think most fans would see this schedule as an upgrade to our current schedule. I think it covers all the bases: in state games, decent competition at home games, opportunities for tough tests against superior opponents, and a couple gimmes.

Let's face it. In a one bid league like the Big Sky, we could go 0-30, win three games in March and make the Tourny. The door to make the NIT seems all but closed for the Big Sky as well now that the NIT announced they won't be taking mid-major regular season champs, but will pick at large bids from major conferences. If I'm not mistaken, back in 2012, Weber was a top 80 team, lost in a tiebreaker for regular season conference championship, and lost in the conference tourney championship game, and still did not get an at large NIT bid. I don't think any Big Sky teams will be playing in the NIT any time soon.

Other than preparation for conference play, and pride, it doesn't make a huge difference what our record is in non-conference play. That's precisely the reason why I've outlined the schedule changes I'd like to see. I think it would engage more fans and get some more buzz around the team in the early season, and it would sure as hell be a lot more exciting to watch.

Man, I love college basketball. It's my first sports-love and I'm super excited to see what Weber State can do this season.

Go Wildcats

Michael Garlick